The Prime Minister of Ivory Coast, Hamed Bakayoko, has died in a hospital in Germany, authorities say.
Bakayoko, who was receiving treatment for cancer, passed away on Wednesday, just days after his 56th birthday.
He was appointed prime minister in July, following the sudden death of his predecessor Amadou Gon Coulibaly.
President Alassane Ouattara described Mr Bakayoko as a “great statesman, an example to young people and a man of exemplary loyalty”.
“Our country is in mourning,” said President Alassane Ouattara on Twitter. “I have the immense sorrow to announce to you the death of Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko this Wednesday, 10 March, in Germany following cancer”, Ouattara said, adding, he was “a great statesman, a model for our youth, a personality of great generosity and exemplary loyalty ”.
A transfer to Turkey, where there was talk of the Ivorian Prime Minister undergoing an emergency transplant, had also been considered for last Thursday. But doctors said he was no longer operable.
Bakayoko received treatment in France on February 18. In recent months, he had contracted coronavirus and malaria.
During his first stay in Paris at the end of January, he had performed a series of medical tests at the American Hospital without any precise diagnosis. Alassane Ouattara went to his bedside visited the prime minister on March 3 in Paris. During a dinner with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, the Ivorian president expressed concern about the health of his prime minister.
A former media executive who turned to politics, he played a prominent mediation role in Ivory Coast’s civil war during the first decade of the century.
“He was a key player in the political game and a major player in reconciliation. It’s a true shame,” Issiaka Sangare, spokesman for the opposition Ivorian Popular Front told AFP news agency.
Aside from his role as prime minister, Mr Bakayoko was also the country’s defence minister.
Patrick Achi has been appointed as interim prime minister, while Tene Birahima Ouattara, a younger brother of the president, has been named interim defence minister.
